PFAW Unveils TV Ads in Three Wisconsin Senate Districts

People For the American Way released new television ads in three Wisconsin Senate districts today, hitting Republican state senators Randy Hopper, Dan Kapanke and Luther Olsen for their votes in favor of legislation that raised taxes on working people and made draconian cuts to public education, while carving out enormous tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. Six Republican state senators are up for recall elections as a result of their support for these policies, which provoked weeks of protests at the Wisconsin state capitol this winter.

The PFAW ads show an American flag slowly fading into a flag of surrender as a narrator describes the economic agenda that Hopper, Kapanke and Olsen supported.

“When they voted for Gov. Walker’s draconian budget, Sens. Hopper, Kapanke and Olsen chose corporate special interests over the needs of their own constituents,” said Michael Keegan, President of People For the American Way. “Now their constituents are ready to show them the door.”

“These senators have shown a clueless and callous disregard for the economic struggles of their own constituents. As part of the same budget that cut hundreds of million dollars from public school children and teachers, these senators supported more than $200 million in tax loopholes for big out-of-state corporations and the super-rich. Their priorities help the big monied interests who gave their campaigns hundreds of thousands of dollars — while harming schoolchildren who need education and opportunity to get ahead.

“Unfortunately, these senators are not the only ones who have turned their backs on the people they represent. Right-wing Republicans in Congress and in state legislatures across the country are trying to make hard-working people pay for hand-outs for the wealthy. The recall votes in Wisconsin send a powerful signal that the American people won’t stand for that kind of treatment from our elected representatives.”